Ho-Oh is a massive phoenix-like bird with brilliant red and green plumage and a white underbelly. It's tail-feathers form into a gigantic golden crest of feathers resembling a peacock. On its head is a crest of distinctive curled feathers, a large beak, a ring of green feathers around its neck, and a ring of black around its crimson eyes. Though some interpretations depict Ho-Oh with spiral shaped eyes and golden feathers. The feathers on Ho-Oh's tail are said to be prismatic in nature, scattering all the colors of the visual spectrum, giving the creature a multi-colored glow depending on what angle light is struck at it and causing a rainbow to form behind it when it flies.

!! Lore and History

Ho-Oh has long been considered the chief deity of the Johto region. Considered a sacred and mythical creature with powers over life itself, it has been called the Bird of Heaven, The Life Binder, The Phoenix King, The Guardian of the Sky, The Sacred Flame, and many others. It has been said that those who have seen Ho-Oh are destined for greatness, and its feathers are said to bring good luck.

Many ancient Johto legends have Ho-Oh as its focal point; one being that Ho-Oh came across a barren land, scarred and broken. It asked its brother Lugia to bring good winds to bring pure rain to the lands. When asked what Ho-Oh would do, it responded by razing the land with its holy fire. Wherever the flames touched flowers and trees would grow. Soon Humans and Pokemon alike would move into the once dead land. And thus the nation of Johto was born.

A second legend has a blacksmith was praying for a creation that would make him famous. In response, Ho-Oh came and burned all the trees around the blacksmith's shop. The blacksmith asked why it did that, and Ho-Oh said that new trees would grow to replace the ones it had burned. On those trees would be a magical fruit, and the blacksmith was to use that fruit to forge hollow balls that would capture even the mightiest of beasts. The blacksmith did as Ho-Oh asked and became the greatest blacksmith in Johto. This legend is the mythical origin of the legendary Azalean Apricorn Ball crafters.

The third and most famous legend takes place, supposedly, 500 years ago in feudal Johto. An evil warlord wanted to take control of Ho-Oh for his own desires and sent his army to invade Ecruteak City's sacred Brass Tower to take it by force. The ensuing battle between the warlord's army and tower's guardians was so violent that the tower itself was burned to the ground. In an act of mercy, Ho-Oh resurrected three pokemon that had died in the carnage as its earthly avatars, Raikou, Suicune, and Entei. Ho-Oh itself, disgusted with humanity's destructiveness, left the Brass Tower, forever flying the skies of the world in search of a trainer with a pure heart.

Every spring, the citizens of Ecruteak hold a massive week-long festival, praying for good harvest and fortune in the coming year and celebrating the end of winter with feasts, dances, and burning pyres in Ho-Oh's name. At the end of the festival, an offering of Apricorns is taken up to the top of the remaining Tin Tower. There an ancient dance is performed, in hopes that Ho-Oh will hear the music and finally return.

!! Known Sightings

Several trainers throughout the world have claimed to have seen Ho-Oh flying through the sky, often in the presence of a rainbow. If the legends are true, then it is no coincidence that most of these sightings are by either then or currently high-ranked trainers.

Recently, a certain trainer from Johto was brought to the top of the Tin Tower. There the traditional dance of the Sun was performed and Ho-Oh was successfully summoned. That trainer was confirmed to have caught Ho-Oh and much information of its abilities and behavior are from personal anecdotes from that trainer.

Ho-Oh has also been reportedly seen at Naval Rock, near the Sevii Islands, and twice in the Orre region -- once where it supposedly shot down a Cipher helicopter and again at the summit of Mt. Battle. These reports are unconfirmed, however.

!! Diet (if any)

Ho-Oh seems to eat anything that catches its fancy. However, it's shown to be a rather picky eater, as it's refused to eat anything artificial or anything it perceives as "low quality".

!! Abilities

Ho-Oh has shown abilities similar to many fire Pokemon, like being able to shoot streams of fire at over 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, indicating that it has a large internal pyro-sac. It also has the ability to intensify solar radiation in the area, in addition to being able to collect that radiation at one point and fire it as a beam.

What is peculiar about Ho-Oh's flames is that whatever soil they touch becomes incredibly fertile almost instantaneously. The ashes left behind also have been found to have incredible medicinal properties. However, Ho-Oh has yet to do anything to lend credence to its mythical ability to resurrect the dead.

!! Hazards

Ho-Oh is as destructive as any other fire pokemon can be. In addition to this, it is an extremely proud creature that demands respect from everyone around it, including its own trainer. Anything that does not is met with either annoyance at best, and fiery indignation at worst. It also seems to be intelligent enough to have its own sense of morality, and thus it has an extreme disdain for what it considers "evil", and it will not hesitate to purge whatever it thinks is the source of said evil.

!! Other

Wild pokemon seem to be instinctively loyal to Ho-Oh, bowing to it, and bringing it food when Ho-Oh is in their presence and becoming hostile to any supposed threats towards Ho-Oh. In fact, there was an incident where the sacred Crystal Bells of the Tin Tower were damaged by thieves, and all the wild pokemon in the area became agitated and aggressive. They hunted down the thieves and attacked anyone that got in their way, indicating that pokemon may consider Ho-Oh just as divine as humans do.

!! Credits

[-Original entry written by Neo_Crimson of The Pokedex Extended Fanon Edition. Ho-Oh, Pokemon, and all related terms, characters, and productions are the property of Gamefreak and Nintendo.-]